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Prevention of Bullying on Campus

Elizabeth Farrington, an expert on women in higher education, defines campus bullying as behavior at colleges and universities that tends “to threaten, to intimidate, to humiliate or to isolate members of the working university environment [and] that undermines reputation or job performance.” It occurs frequently, and very often we who work in these environments are unaware of it.

Imagine the following scenarios:

A unit director submits work to a vice president who makes comments that discredit or devalue the work of the director. The vice president criticizes the director, shows a lack of patience, and fails to demonstrate, in a sensitive, professional manner, how to proceed.

A committee is asked to review the state of departmental assessment, but the department chair declines to share significant information with the committee and comes to a committee meeting where he denigrates a member for lack of knowledge.

A faculty member is given an unreasonable teaching schedule. He is e-mailed his teaching schedule with a note emphasizing that the schedule is not open to discussion.

The registrar asks the associate registrar not only to compile student registration figures for each academic department but also to write the enrollment management section of the accreditation report. If the assignment is not completed by next week, the associate registrar is told, he will suffer disciplinary action.

The director of grants carefully monitors the professional schedule of the coordinator of grants, imposing restrictive work rules.

A faculty member in the professorial ranks makes cruel, insulting comments in public about an untenured faculty member’s psychological problems.

In the performance review of a faculty member who is up for promotion, the department chair undermines the faculty member’s professional standing, does not identify reasonable means of improvement, and ignores the faculty member’s contributions to the department.

A faculty member believes that she is a target of bias or discrimination in the department. She feels that her professional status is threatened through isolation and obstruction.

Bullying is an escalating process in which the person who is bullied is in an inferior position. Bullying in the workplace is an act of aggression, and it is associated with high stress levels and lack of collegiality. The bullying employer demeans, humiliates, and intimidates employees as individuals.

Is Bullying a Problem on Your Campus?
The following behaviors may constitute workplace
bullying:
• verbal abuse
• nonverbal conduct that is threatening, humiliating,
or intimidating
• interference in work or sabotage that prevents
work from getting done
• false accusations of mistakes
• hostile glares
• yelling or shouting
• “exclusion” of individuals
• use of put-downs or insults
• unreasonably heavy work demands

In severe situations, workplace bullying triggers health problems for the bullied employee. According to legal expert Sarah Morris, 37 percent of adult Americans are affected by workplace bullying; many victims stay in their jobs even though they feel tormented.

Employers, including colleges and universities, need to consider strategies for training employees in problem solving, consensus building, negotiation, and mediation. This kind of training promotes skills that could defuse tensions and reduce bullying behaviors.

Harmful Consequences

It is in the best interest of college and university leaders to promote ethical conduct and a collegial working environment. Bullied workers, be they faculty members, academic professionals, or administrators, can experience serious psychological and physiological problems, from insomnia and depression to cardiovascular disease and impaired memory.
Reducing workplace bullying is cost-effective, resulting in happier, more passionate employees. After all, people don’t work well in high-anxiety situations. Employers experience reduced productivity when employees are bullied. Employees who are bullied are less motivated at work and may go to great lengths to avoid unpleasant situations, calling in sick more often and even leaving their jobs. Employers may also become liable for legal costs resulting from the mistreatment of employees.

Fighting Workplace Bullying

Forty-eight states have passed laws requiring school districts to take specific actions to prevent bullying, and some states are trying to introduce legislation on workplace bullying.
Comprehensive antibullying laws could protect employees and provide incentives for employers to respond to bullying. Provisions of one proposed law, New York’s Healthy Workplace Bill, include compensation for targets of workplace bullying who can demonstrate physical or psychological harm; at the same time, the law would shield from liability employers who engage in preventive actions. The Healthy Workplace Bill would force employers to pay serious attention to complaints from employees. Such a bill would make a difference for those individuals who have witnessed or experienced workplace bullying.

Symptoms of Bullying
Victims of bullying may suffer from the following
psychological, physical, and behavioral problems:

Most American colleges and universities have a workplace code of conduct that deals with harassment, but few have codes of conduct that deal with workplace bullying. Colleges and universities are presumably guided by mission and goals statements, but chilly working climates often belie these lofty pronouncements.

Effective leaders in higher education provide direction and create a structure to support their decisions. They foster a supportive and collaborative environment. Freedom of expression and thought are essential, but rules of conduct must reflect the college’s mission and be enforced. Colleges and universities must develop clear statements of organizational values that foster a culture of mutual respect.

Colleges and universities can arrange an early-alert program in which administrative and academic departments are trained to recognize workplace bullying. In addition to educating faculty and staff on harassment policies, institutions can offer workshops on antibullying behavior. An objective mediator or someone who specializes in conflict resolution can also be helpful, since people who are being bullied often cannot confront the bullies themselves. Grievances over alleged bullying behavior must be taken seriously.

An effective policy should help employees understand what steps to take in response to inappropriate behavior at work and what behavior is expected of employees. It should also describe the steps for filing a complaint and provide for the involvement of a third party well versed in aggression, control, conflict, and resolution to support the victim. Employees need to be encouraged to speak up when they encounter inappropriate behavior. Behavior expectations can be considered during performance evaluations, and employees need to be made aware when another’s behavior is inappropriate.

By educating faculty and staff members on campus policies through ongoing workshops and by providing an objective mediator, colleges and universities can begin to tackle workplace bullying, allowing faculty and staff to focus on producing students who are prepared for the world.

Clara Wajngurt is professor of mathematics at the City University of New York Queensborough Community College, where she has taught since 1983. She is collaborating on the development of an antibullying policy at her institution and has lobbied for the Healthy Workplace Bill in New York. Her e-mail address is cwajngurt@qcc.cuny.edu.

Comments

This useful article would be even more important if some of the examples that begin it addressed situations involving part-time faculty, where the protections are much weaker and both personal and professional vulnerability are acute.

Just saw this, July 12, 20015: Yep. Totally agree. It's worse for adjuncts, part-timers. The more bullying is accommodated and tolerated (as it is on my campus, Hunter College, CUNY) the more inhospitable the conditions are for adjunct, part-timers. It's very clear in my department (where the former union chapter chair was one of the worse bullies).

While working at a large state university last year, I was repeatedly bullied by a high level supervisor who had previously pushed other administrators and faculty out of their positions. This VP yelled at and berated one particular program director during a staff meeting, humiliating her, and eventually driving her out of the university. This VP proudly refers to herself as the "plunger" and has been allowed to place unreasonable demands on her staff, take credit for the work of others, and has yelled, bullied and intimidated her way across campus unchecked. I have been excluded from meetings with my own staff, excluded from important campus-wide meetings and social events and denied the support of an administrative assistant. I was held responsible for the poor performance of one of my staff members, but was not allowed to provide a performance evaluation that even hinted at this staff member's problems, nor was I supported in taking any form of disciplinary action. I went to our HR department to complain (privately) as my supervisor subjected me to one of her screaming and yelling episodes at a conference in front of colleagues from other academic institutions. The HR department did nothing and although I could have filed a more formal complaint, I chose not to out of fear of losing my position. Nevertheless, I was eventually pushed out of my job before I was able to find another position. From what I have heard, the VP has done all she can to ruin my reputation, and I am unable to find another full-time position. It is my belief that because this woman was successful at her job, she was able to get away with 30 years of abusive and highly unprofessional and unethical behavior. What can people in my position do to save their reputation and career?

So bad at Hunter that I started doing volunteer lobbying with the New York Healthy Workplace Advocates in its efforts for a healthy workplace bill in New York. 2015 may be the year for the law to see the light of day. Lobbying helped me to find solace and strategy for dealing with a real bad situation, which I won't go into detail on this forum. But I did start a petition supporting the healthy workplace bill in Albany and am contacting Clara Wajngurt.

Connecticut has a group that supports and promotes the Healthy Workplace Bill, Connecticut Healthy Workplace Advocates. But CT legislators on the labor committee, including one CSU-AAUP member of the council, has introduced everything but the HWB--study bills, create-an-advisory-board-bill (and make it applicable only to state workers), etc. I have never understood why national AAUP will not make a strong and definite statement supporting the HWB like the NAACP has. It is the best model legislation.

4) Delivered copy of petition (http://goo.gl/uK0cM6) to City University of NY Chancellor Office, generating response from City University NY Executive Provost, prompting more discussion: https://goo.gl/obg8XA

Gregg Morris
Assistant Professor
Department of Film and Media Studies
Hunter College

We work with people who smile in "southern charm", ever so politely, and stab you in the back as you walk away. Bullying here is being ganged up on by the "mean girls" who currently are tenured and think they are great, yet have broken all social norms (not saying hello, never stay for full faculty meeting, talk with each other behind their laptop screens, contribute service in minimal ways. There has never been any collegiality with junior faculty, no mentoring, no friendliness, no recognition for our accomplishments. Always out to get us... Without tenure, junior faculty are fearful to approach anyone for assistance. Faculty in other departments tell us our department is the laughing stock of the institution - that our's has the meanest people there. What a distinction... Administration has been like a revolving door here at all levels, so they continue to get away with it. Smile and stab... Southern hospitality??? WHO is the advocate for junior faculty at a non-union institution? With little concern for faculty interrelationships, it is obvious students don't matter for more than tuition. Pretty sad.

Back in the 80s I was bullied by a female college student while she was trying to break up my marriage. She had no manners and would insult me in front of my peers - other faculty wives. As a young professors wife - I did not speak up. Years later I have never forgotten how degrading and mean spirited this behavior was and how bad I felt. Now I would have gone to the administration. Speak up don't do as I did. We used this inappropriate behavior to teach our daughters how not to behave even in college. Bullying is not just in elementary, high school and among college students. This Engineering college student was after a MRS. Degree and was going for the gold. She got dust and not gold dust. I learned as my daughters did a valuable lesson - Don't tolerate Bullying!!! I just found out this former college students husband had an affair and in 2011 he married his co worker. Karma does happen

Thank you for this important article. I don't disagree that "rules of conduct must reflect the college’s mission and be enforced," and that "[c]olleges and universities must develop clear statements of organizational values that foster a culture of mutual respect." In my experience, however, rules and policies are far less effective than moral leadership. Rules can be ignored, or gotten around, by people who have contempt for them. See: https://mgpiety.org/2017/05/08/a-cure-for-academic-bullying/